Modernist Recipes DB

Crystal dumpling dough

Marcus Longfoot and Simon Paterson

Nothing is more impressive than a delicate little dumpling of delicious transparent beauty. Har gow are definitely our favorite part of yum cha.

This recipe evolved through trial and error. There are many recipes for this dough—sometimes called ‘skin’—on the internet but we found most of them result in a thick or overly chewy dough. This isn’t what you want from a fine dumpling. In the end, none of the recipes resulted in a dough that was easy to handle while having a light transparent texture. Our recipe and method is simple, although this task should be approached cautiously because we are handling boiling water.

You cannot buy this dough in any supermarket because it simply does not keep for very long after being made. Not many dinner party guests realise this, however, so you will be frequently questioned about where you purchased the ‘wrappers’. You can let them know, proudly, that you made the dough yourself! Keep a little sample of the white dough to show them the beautiful texture.

The notes below are significant as they include some great tips for handling the dough and an awesome trick for creating perfect little disc-shaped wrappers.

Time

40 minutes total: 10 minutes attended, 30 minutes unattended

Storage notes

cannot be stored; dough must be used immediately 

Difficulty

hard 

Yield

960 g (servings 64 )

Ingredients
Weight
Volume
Procedure
A
Wheat starch
145 g
¾ cup
Tapioca starch
45 g
⅓ cup
Salt
1.5 g
¼ tsp
1
Sift together into a medium mixing bowl.
B
Water, boiling
1000 g
2
Bring to a boil in a saucepan set over hight heat.
3
Keep water at a boil.
4
Wearing gloves, add 60 g / ¼ cup water to dry ingredients A. Try to cover as much of the dry ingredients as possible. Move the water around in the flour to expose new parts of the flour that have not been touched by water. Repeat 3 times, adding a total of 180 g / ¾ cup of water.
5
Leave to cool for 2 minutes.
6
Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until all the water has been fully incorporated into the flour.
C
Peanut oil (or lard, heated to 60°C / 140°F).
20 g
1½ tbsp
7
Add to bowl.
8
Carefully—the mixture will still be very hot—start to work the dough in the bowl until it becomes a smooth, consistent texture and the oil has been evenly distributed, about 2 minutes. You should have a silky ball of smooth dough.
9
Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
0
Use immediately.

Original: 2010.

Notes

Be careful! The water has to be boiling when it is added to the flour. If it isn’t, you may have trouble getting the dough to work.

The dough should be used immediately after resting and be kept under a damp towel.

Many recipes call for you to roll the dough into long cylinders and then portion by cutting into discs. We find this step to be unnecessary and will always result in portions that are different sizes. Keep the ball of dough under the damp towel, pick off a small piece from the ball and weigh it. You want a portion of 15 g. You don’t need to be painfully precise about the 15 grams, anywhere from 14–16 grams is fine.

Once you have weighed the portion, roll it between your hands to form a silky smooth ball without any air pockets. You can use some force here and it will only take around 5–10 seconds to achieve the right consistency.

Get 2 pieces of baking paper at least 12 cm square. Put the ball in the middle of one piece and cover it with the other. You will have a ball of dough sandwiched between two pieces of baking paper.

Using a flat-bottomed glass bowl, or similar, with a diameter at least 10 cm, press down on the ball. It will flatten beautifully into a neat flat disc. You can apply quite a bit force here. It will be obvious when you have applied too much pressure and you will quickly discover the right amount of pressure to use. You are looking for a lovely, thin wrapper that can be picked up and filled easily without tearing.

We make our dumplings one at a time and place directly into a steamer. The dough will stick together if you place them on top of one another so if you are planning a dumpling production line, you should be sure to keep each dumpling separate. Spray the base of your steamer with cooking spray or line with baking paper with lots of holes punched.

If you are planning these for a party, it is a good idea to make 3 or 4 variations of the filling and to wrap them in different ways. Vegetarian, seafood, white meat and red meat variations are a good place to start.

Making ahead

You cannot make this recipe ahead of time. The dough does not keep.

Nutrition
Serving size 15 g; calories 59.1 kcal, kilojoules 247.4 kJ, protein 1.2 g, carbohydrates 9.4 g, sugar 0.1 g, fat 1.6 g, saturated fat 0.3 g, unsaturated fat 1.4 g, trans fat 0 g, fiber 1.3 g, cholesterol 0 mg,

Type pasta dough dumpling dough

Author

Yield

g

Servings

Serving size 15 g

Serve

Per
serve
Energy (kcal)59.1
Energy (kJ)247.4
Protein (g)1.2
Fat (g)1.6
Carbs (g)9.4
Sugars (g)0.1
Fiber (g)1.3
Sodium (mg)41.5
Cholesterol (mg)0

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